Archival Outlookoutlook

NEWSLETTER OF THE SOCIETY OF AMERICAN ARCHIVISTS MAY/JUNE 2009 WWW.ARCHIVISTS.ORG archivalarchival outlookoutlook PutPut YourYour BestBest FootFoot ForwardForward .. .. .. •• NationalNational InitiativesInitiatives TargetTarget DisasterDisaster TrainingTraining •• 20092009 ElectionElection ResultsResults •• HowHow toto StayStay CoolCool inin AustinAustin inin AugustAugust table of contents archival outlook features the society of american archivists Rethinking Emergencies: National Initiatives Help serves the education and information needs of its members and provides leadership to Prepare for Area-Wide Disasters Aimée Primeaux ......... 6 help ensure the identification, preservation and use of the nation’s historical record. Graduates Need to Be Flexible in Job Hunt Helen Janousek .............................................. 8 NANCY P. BEAUMONT Executive Director 2009 Election Results [email protected] Helen Tibbo Elected Vice President and President-elect ....... 10 TERESA M. BRInatI Director of Publishing Aimee Felker Is Next SAA Treasurer ........................ 11 [email protected] Four to Join Council ...................................... 12 SOLVEIG DE SUTTER Nominating Committee to Look Beyond “Usual Suspects” .... 13 Director of Education [email protected] Sustaining the Spirit of Austin BRIAN P. DOYLE Susan Eason and Brenda Gunn ................................ 14 Director of Member and Technical Services [email protected] Mechanics of Governance: Working Groups Get Rodney FRANKLIN It Done René Mueller ...................................... 16 Service Center Representative [email protected] Grassroots Effort Produces Resource Manual for Working with Congressional Collections LEE GONZALEZ Service Center Representative Linda A. Whitaker ............................................ 17 [email protected] Replumbing SAA’s Website with Drupal HELEN JANOUSEK Brian Doyle ................................................. 23 Editorial and Production Assistant [email protected] columns TOM JURCZAK President’s Message: With Malice Toward None ............. 3 Director of Finance and Administration From the Executive Director: She Walked in Beauty ........... 4 [email protected] From the Acting Archivist of the United States: Improving RENÉ MUELLER Record Processing at Three Presidential Libraries ..........18 Project Assistant [email protected] departments VERONIca PARRISH Washington Beat. 19 Education Coordinator National News Clips .................................... 20 [email protected] World View ............................................ 21 CARLOS R. SALGADO Around SAA ........................................... 22 SAA Service Center Manager [email protected] Currents .............................................. 24 JEANETTE SPEARS In Memoriam .......................................... 26 Service Center Representative Bulletin Board ......................................... 30 [email protected] NEWSLETTER Archival Outlook (ISSN 1520-3379) is published six times OF THE SOCIETY OF AMERICAN ARCHIVISTS MAY/JUNE 2009 a year and distributed as a membership benefit by the WWW.ARCHIVISTS.ORG archival outlook On the cover Society of American Archivists. Contents of the newsletter Put Your Best Foot Forward . Put Your Best Foot Forward . Gertrude, Mystic, may be reproduced in whole or in part provided that •• National Initiatives Target Disaster Training •• 20092009 ElectionElection ResultsResults credit is given. Direct all advertising inquiries and general •• How to Stay Cool in Austin in August Beulah, Ethel, Mamie, and Zula splash in Austin’s Bull correspondence to: Helen Janousek, Society of American Creek on a spring day in 1913. Read how you can stay Archivists, 17 North State Street, Suite 1425, Chicago, IL cool at the Joint Annual Meeting in August in “Sustaining 60602; 312-606-0722; toll free 866-SAA-7858; fax 312-606- 0728; [email protected]; www.archivists.org. the Spirit of Austin” on page 14. Photo courtesy of the Austin History Center at the Austin Public Library. ∞ Archival Outlook is printed on paper that meets the re- quirements of the American National Standards Institute— Permanence of Paper, ANSI Z39.48-1992. 2 | archival outlook • may/june 2009 www.archivists.org president’s message Frank Boles, Clarke Historical Library, Central Michigan University [email protected] With Malice Toward None ith malice toward none, with charity occasionally powerful individuals abuse the trust “Wtoward all . .” invested in them by seeking retribution; that dark With these words Abraham Lincoln expressed motives can exist; that stupidity is ever with us; and the fundamental generosity of spirit that permeated that there are things in the world worth being out- his second inaugural address. In the final days of the raged about. But it seems to me that none of these Civil War, Lincoln’s generosity was inspired in part points applies with the regularity with which I hear by his personal beliefs, but also by his pragmatic rec- them used. ognition that the nation needed not retribution but More often, I see fundamental flaws in commu- rebuilding, and that rebuilding could be best accom- nications that assert these sorts of claims. Nitpicking plished with magnanimity rather than vengeance. is just that. Outrage is asserted in place of facts. Generosity and advanc- Because outrage is so often a shortcut that avoids ing the cause of archives fact finding, “stupid” becomes an epithet rather than “ . we need to has been much on my mind a legitimate conclusion. As for dark agendas, they of late. During the last few more honestly go by the name personal beliefs or work together months I have had the mis- strategic plans and, while sometimes tedious to listen fortune to hear many angry to or read, they are rarely either nefarious or com- to face the words and no small amount pletely indefensible. critical of nitpicking on a variety I have never understood why archivists who of subjects related to both play “gotcha” or express outrage so often believe challenges of archives and the Society of themselves to be acting particularly courageously. our future.” American Archivists. These The penalties for publicly venting one’s spleen at outbursts sometimes have either colleagues or the SAA are minimal. In an era demonstrated a profound of blogs, freedom of expression is all but guaranteed. disillusionment with our colleagues and often a deep There are simply too many journals for any mali- distrust regarding the motives of our peers. They cious individual or group to punish someone by divide archivists at a time when we need to work suppressing publications. And anyone seeking a new together to face the critical challenges of our future. job who can’t find three colleagues to serve as refer- My concern is not about disagreement. ences probably has problems that go well beyond his Disagreement is to be welcomed as part of any pro- or her professional life. fession’s life and growth. Nor am I concerned about These communications are profoundly lacking candor. Candor is to be welcomed, too, particularly in the spirit espoused in Lincoln’s second inaugural, when contrasted to coded language that leaves mean- which calls for healing in part because of its intrinsic ing opaque. The problem I perceive is not that we value and in part in order to build anew. Embracing disagree, but rather the way in which that disagree- Lincoln’s philosophy, I’d like to share a few simple ment takes place and the motives assigned to those suggestions regarding our professional discourse and with whom we disagree. Too often, someone plays assumptions: “gotcha” over minor points. Too often someone is • Before sending me an email message or post- “outraged” regarding the action (or inaction) of a ing a flame to a list expressing outrage at a “powerful” individual or entity. The actions (or inac- fellow professional or at a professional society, tions) are described as “stupid” or are disparaged as seek facts and perspective. Facts have a happy part of an agenda that cannot be justified, but which way of eliminating (or at least mitigating) rage. may reveal some darker shortcoming. And occasion- Perspective often helps one to realize that yester- ally the author alludes to the personal courage neces- day’s disastrous embarrassment was, in the light sary to tell “truth to power.” of a new day, a minor problem. I am willing to concede that small mistakes sometimes make visible larger flaws; that continued on page 25 www.archivists.org archival outlook • may/june 2009 | 3 from the executive director Nancy P. Beaumont • [email protected] She Walked in Beauty his iconic photo from the ‘50s could be of many Museum. Jane and Perk once calculated that they had Ta homemaker and mom. It happens to be from moved 47 times in their married life as he completed my family archives, and it is of my mother. When this flight training and various assignments throughout photo was taken in 1957, she was president of the the U.S., in Panama, and in Europe. (But Jane was Officers’ Wives Club in Bitburg, Germany. She was used to it. As the daughter of a construction engineer, mad that Dad took the photo—undoubtedly because she attended more than a dozen schools growing up, the bed was unmade. The committed volunteer, taking despite skipping grades 4 and 6.) Wherever they went, time out from her busy day to make a few calls, all the my mom applied her extraordinary talents to ensure while in a skirt,

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